Silentstare’s entries. Anything and everything.

Posts Tagged ‘viz’

Today, I ordered the first volume of Inuyasha manga in its original Japanese text from an online store. It’s my very first time to order something online; I do hope to get the item that I bought! (._.) Right now, I am still keeping my fingers crossed hoping that it will be successful online shopping experience! Anyway, after that…I did some google search for more Inuyasha stuffs. I stumbled across the news dated just last month (April) at ANN. [I know I am so late XD but it’s better to be late than never! Haha] I am quoting the whole news below.

The North American publisher Viz Media has announced that it will “unflip” its English-language release of Rumiko Takahashi‘s Inuyasha manga, starting with volume 38 in July. Future volumes of the English edition will revert to the right-to-left page layout of the original Japanese edition and be published monthly. Starting this November, Viz will also reprint the entire series in VIZBIG editions. Each unflipped bumper volume of the VIZBIG edition will contain the contents of three of the original volumes.

Finally, my beloved series will be unflipped (Right to Left) just like the original! Upon knowing this news, I became so excited that I kept on searching for more information about this VizBig release for Inuyasha. So far, it seems that it will be a 3-in-1 edition scheduled to be released in November 2009. The price will be $17.99 based from TheRumicWorld and it’s $12.23 from Amazon. So the price range is $12-$18. Good deal, I believe. Considering that it will be a 3-in-1 release, unflipped…it’s a good pick especially for avid fans of the series! (Just like me! I will surely save up more money for these! I’m gonna collect the whole set! >:D) However, as I went on searching for more, I came across some blogs which discussed about a rumor. This and this are the blogs I am talking about. From the latter, it stated the following:

UPDATE: In the comments, Greg McElhatton shares a rumor that would explain why all of Rumiko Takahashi’s manga series have always appeared in flipped format, even when subsequent, smaller editions were released: Apparently Viz’s licenses were too specific and only granted the rights to publish Takahashi’s work in the flipped format. So to publish new, unflipped editions, Viz would have to renegotiate their contracts, which would add additional costs they probably don’t want to incur for a reprint project. So it looks like the VIZBIG edition of Inuyasha may be flipped after all, which just seems… odd. (Although Tekkon Kinkreet was reissued in a flipped format, so maybe it’s not such a big deal.)

So it seems that it is already stated in the contract between Viz and Rumiko Takahashi that the manga will be published in flipped format and to have it in unflipped editions would mean to have a new contract? That’s how I understand it. *sigh* Adding more to the disappointment, this Amazon Link‘s description for Inuyasha Volume 1 (VIZBIG EDITION) says

Product DescriptionL to R (Western Style). Quaeterly. Historical Action And Romance From One of Japan’s Most Beloved Creators Kagome is a modern Japanese high school girl. Never the type to believe in myths and legends, her world view dramatically changes when, one day, she’s pulled out of herown time and into another! Removed the succeeding text

WTH! L to R! And here I thought it will be unflipped! So what’s with the Vizbig Unflipped News? I know this contract thing is a rumor and I hope it stays as it is. Surely this Amazon Product Description must be just a big typographical error! If ever the rumor is true, then the Vizbig Edition is actually a waste. It will be just a 3-in-1 release, that’s all. Nothing new, nothing to look forward to.

When I started to like this series, I never had the intention to purchase the English Version because it’s flipped (reading Left to Right)—it’s a really huge turn off because the drawing has lost its greatness due to the flipping. But now that they will be releasing unflipped versions, I will surely be one of your customers! So Viz, please do! *fingers crossed*